Federal skilled workers: Assessing applications against minimum requirements

This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.

The Express Entry system or the Centralized Intake Office (CIO) will determine if the applicant meets the minimum requirements to submit an application as a skilled worker.

Note: Substituted evaluation cannot be used by the CIO to overcome an applicant’s failure to meet the minimum requirements.

Minimum work experience requirement

Assessing qualifying work experience

The applicant must have accumulated at least 1 year of continuous full-time (or the equivalent in part-time) paid work experience in the occupation identified in their application for permanent residence as their primary occupation, in accordance with paragraph 75(2)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR). In calculating this period of work experience, the occupation must be listed in

Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) 0 (National Occupational Classification [NOC] 2021), Skill Type 0 (NOC 2016) (Managerial occupations)
TEER 1 (NOC 2021), Skill Level A (NOC 2016) (Professional occupations) or
TEER 2 and TEER 3 (NOC 2021), Skill Level B (NOC 2016) (Technical occupations and skilled trades)

The applicant’s skilled work experience must also

have occurred within the 10 years preceding the date of their application for permanent residence
not be in an occupation that has been designated as a restricted occupation

Note: At the time of publication, no occupations were designated as restricted.

In addition, during that period of employment, the applicant must have done both of the following:

performed the actions described in the lead statement for the occupation as set out in the NOC description [R75(2)(b)]
performed a substantial number of the main duties, including all of the essential duties, of the occupation as set out in the NOC description [R75(2)(c)]

Note: The applicant does not need to demonstrate that they meet the “employment requirements” listed in the NOC description.

Minimum language proficiency requirement

The applicant must demonstrate that they meet the threshold(s) set by the Minister for proficiency in either English or French for each of the 4 language skill areas: reading, writing, speaking and listening [R75(2)(d)].

Refer to the language proficiency requirements.

Applicants must demonstrate that they meet the required level of language proficiency in all 4 language skill areas by submitting the results of an English or French language test from a designated testing organization with their application.

Language test results must be less than 2 years old when a candidate creates their profile in Express Entry, and when their application for permanent residence is submitted.

As of January 1, 2015, the Public policy concerning economic class permanent residence applicants and Express Entry candidates whose language proficiency cannot be tested in all 4 language skill areas due to a physical or mental disability exempts both the principal applicant and their accompanying spouse or common-law partner from having to provide evaluation results from a designated organization or institution in up to 3 of 4 language skill areas. Instead, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will accept notionalized (averaged) scores using a language calculator tool. The language evaluation results, both those that could be completed and the averaged score(s), must be considered in the same manner as any other language evaluation results.

Minimum education requirement

Applicants must submit either their completed Canadian educational credential or their completed foreign educational credential and the equivalency assessment (Educational Credential Assessment [ECA] report) issued by a designated assessment organization or institution with their application for permanent residence. The equivalency assessment must be less than 5 years old on the date on which their application is made [R75(2)(e)].

Note: The applicant must submit at least a completed Canadian secondary educational credential or its equivalent in order to meet the minimum education requirement.

Equivalency assessments (ECA reports) will be used as conclusive evidence that the applicant’s completed foreign diplomas, certificates or credentials are equivalent to completed Canadian educational credentials for the purposes of paragraph R75(2)(e), subsection R75(2.1) and section R78. The ECA report will also include an assessment by the organization or institution of the authenticity of the completed foreign diploma, certificate or credential.

If a professional body has been designated for the primary occupation specified in the application, the applicant must submit a completed foreign diploma, certificate or credential relevant to that occupation and the equivalency assessment (ECA report) issued by the designated professional body establishing that the completed foreign diploma, certificate or credential is equivalent to the completed Canadian educational credential required to practise that occupation in at least one of the provinces in which the equivalency assessments issued by this professional body are recognized.

Note: Only reports issued by an IRCC-designated organization or institution will be accepted as an equivalency assessment for the purpose of a federal skilled worker class application.

Applicants (where applicable) are only required to submit their ECA reference number, not a copy of their assessment. Applicants must declare in their Express Entry profile if they have obtained an ECA for their foreign educational credential. An ECA report must be less than 5 years old at the time the Express Entry profile is submitted and upon receipt of the application for permanent residence.

Also refer to the Concerns with respect to the authenticity of foreign educational credentials section.

Page details

Date modified:: 2025-03-05

Language selection

Search